Cracks
by Hellobookwermthings
Summary: Talia finds herself in a cathedral with no idea how she got there, surrounded by dead bodies. What happened?
1. Chapter 1

Cracks

There, in Talia's face, were cracks.

In the mirror, they looked so innocent and so unreal.

The cracks stemmed from around her eyes, branched off too many times, like the roots of a tree. It felt like she might fall apart at any moment, collapse into a pile of rubbish.

Talia couldn't remember how she'd gotten here, in front of this mirror. She stood up and looked around.

She was in a cathedral, which in itself was odd, but this was horrifying.

The cathedral was packed full with people in pews all sitting up straight looking at her. Looking at her with eyes smoldering with ash. She could see now they were dead.

She stared for a moment, then sat back down and turned on her phone, tears streaming down her face.

Talia blinked in shock, mind reeling. The date on her phone was two whole months later than the last day she remembered, at home.

That last day at home… _she was cooking herself some dinner at eight o' clock, after working hard all day, and thought something seemed a little off. She glanced down at the air vent by her feet and saw wisps of black smoke curling up from it. She was starting to yell ,"Damn it, Owen! Smoking again?" But as soon as she opened her mouth, the thought was gone. All thoughts were gone, disappearing with the black smoke that was there just a moment before. She walked out the apartment door._

As she was recalling what had happened, her fingers had tapped out 9, 1, 1, and the voice was asking her something, telling her something, but she didn't care. Talia might have whispered something in response, something barely recognizable, but her mind was on other things.

There was another memory there, barely hanging on.

 _Later, another time, her body twitched and flinched as a war raged on. And then she sat still, a white light streaming around her. Anything to get rid of the black darkness inside her, controlling her. Anything to be free._

 _The wings snapped outward, the cathedral beckoned._

As she had been thinking, police officers had silenly crept up around her, or maybe her ears had broken, and now she was walking toward a car with ever flashing lights.

What monsters, what cruel, unnatural forces were these? What really happened there? Are even these officers human? Thoughts whipped through her head in a whirlwind and she could hardly stay still, glancing everywhere.

As the police car reached its destination, Talia saw two FBI agents talking to the officers turn to look at her, and the taller one gave a knowing look to the other.


	2. The Agents Smith

I apologize in advance for the slowness of this chapter. next one will advance the plot further.

"I'm Agent Smith, this is my partner Agent Smith. Can you tell us what happened in that cathedral, Talia?" said the taller one with the long hair.

"Do I really need to say it again? I've seen terrible things and no one will believe me, yet you all keep asking." Talia said bitterly.

"Please just bear with me now, Ms. Steel. How did you get to be in that cathedral?"he continued with a reassuring hand gesture.

"I don't know."

" You don't know? What do you mean by that?"

" I don't know how I got there. I guess what I mean is that I don't remember, but that's not quite it."

"What's the last thing you remember, then?"

" Vague bits and pieces over what I've been told was two months. I remember being at home, a few other places throughout the country, Japan, and I remember an internal battle. Those are all the things that the cops agree could have happened."

She pauses briefly, and continues.

"What was I doing before my insane trip around the world, they ask. What was I doing during it? Where did I get the money to travel this much? How was I the only one left alive? I give the answers I know, I guess you want them too. I was.. possessed. That's the only word good enough for it. I saw some strangely dark black smoke that may or may not have been related, but I was possessed for most of the time. I just wanted out. There was this presence in my head, controlling everything I did and said, it was overwhelming. Sometimes I tried to ignore it all. But then after what felt like forever, I felt light, I looked out and saw a woman who shone walking toward me, with an intense gaze. No one else around seemed to see the brightness. She told me her name was Ramiel and asked me if I wanted to be free of my demon. My mouth opened as if to speak and smoke started to come out, but the woman waved her hand and I gulped it back down. I thought in my head, yes, of course I want be free, but I knew she wouldn't be able to hear me. So I was surprised when she smiled and said she'd help. There was a war in my brain for what felt like hours, and in the end all I could see was light and the image of that cathedral, a sense of wrongness. So, that's my whole story. Make what you will of it."

The two agents shared a look.

"We need a moment to talk." said the shorter one, as the men hurried to the hallway. They came back ten minutes later, looking thoughtful.

"Talia", began the taller 'Agent Smith' again, who seemed to be the only one to talk so far," We believe you. We've met someone like you before, and it didn't end well. Do you have any family or friends that you at all care about?"

"You're scaring me more than I already am. I have a few friends, just like anybody. "

"What about family?"

"I'm an orphan, have been since I was 19."

"I'm so sorry, I know how that feels. But you're going to have to stay away from the people you care about for a while, to keep them safe from the things that have been happening to you."

" Aren't I going to be away from them anyway? I thought that I was being held on charges of homicide."

"It's alright, we made a few calls, convinced them of your innocence. Is there any place you can stay that no one-"

His sentence was cut off abruptly by a huge noise as the police station wall behind Talia fell inward, bricks crumbling, several falling on her head.

She blacked out.


	3. A Demon and A Meatsuit

Sam lunged for the girl who had been possessed as the world seemed to collapse inward with a great roar and bury her with rubble. She couldn't be dead, it wouldn't be his fault. He whipped over the table and started yanking away bricks.

"Ah … I think I have the honor of meeting famous Winchesters. It was nice of you to keep my meatsuit safe for this short time, but you'll be giving it to me now. "

Sam heard the sharp sound of the demon knife that Dean drew.

"It looks to me like you already got one."

Ah, the usual snark response when they were all in danger. Sam paused for a moment to glance upward where a man stood atop the remains of the wall, wind whipping his black hair, an eerie smile on his face, contrasted deeply by the snow. Sam quickly threw off several other bricks, finally uncovering her legs.

"How careless of me." With a wide sweeping motion, all the rubble swept away from Talia as Dean uncapped a flask.

Sam saw, and nodded, sighing internally. A splash and an ear-piercing shriek ripped the air as the two 'FBI agents' slammed the door and thundered out of the police station, Sam carrying Talia over his shoulders. Several people tried to chase after them, objecting, but they quickly got left behind as the brothers neared the Impala.

Dean got out the sawed-offs, the salt, the holy water, the spray paint that they probably wouldn't have enough time to use.

"Is she alright?" Dean asked grimly, hardly stopping. Just seconds before, her weight on Sam's shoulders had been limp and lifeless. They both stared silently at Talia for a moment before Sam felt for a pulse. It was very weak, and she had many large cuts and bruises that they hadn't noticed until now.

"What do we do now?" Sam said, thinking back to all the times he had failed the people who were counting on him, how many had died.

"Look out!" said Dean, looking over Sam's shoulder and tossing him the demon knife.

Sam whirled around and stabbed in front of him, too late. The arm at his neck wrested the knife from him and held it against his throat.

" Make one move against me Dean, and I'll off your brother. Fine with you?" Dean stared defiantly, then gaped, confused and horrified at the demon in front of him ; he had white eyes.

A ring of blood began to form on Sam's throat and he let out a gasp.

"Back away from-" the white-eyed demon stopped short to stare at Talia.

"Agent?" her eyes blinked, and opened."What's happening?" her eyes flicked up to meet the pure white ones, and she yelped, as if kicked. "You!"

Her face set with anger, she said "Stay away from them!"

Immediately all the air in the surroundings seemed to disappear along with the sound. The world stood still. Sam, Dean, even the demon fell to the grass, slumped into balls. Smoke churned out of his mouth to the ground and into the earth, where a pit of fire emerged to swallow it whole.

Talia looked around, bewildered. The demon had left her awhile ago. So had Ramiel. What just happened?

"Agent Smith? Wake up!" Oh, no. "Agent Smith!" Were they dead?


	4. Pieces of A Puzzle

Though the the poor bastard the demon had possessed had up and ran off ages ago, the agents he had attacked still slept. Nothing would wake them.

Talia hung around long after she gave up, not knowing what to do but not wanting to admit defeat. She remembered the wall crashing in on her, rocks hurling themselves at every inch of her skin, tearing gashes and snapping bones. I should be dead, she thought. That should have killed me.

Talia looked down at herself, felt her ribs. The blood splotches on her clothes, in her hair, were like half of a puzzle. The other half, which should have been on her body, flaring with pain, was missing.

She decided that she had to let someone know what had happened and began to search her pocket for her phone. After groping about for a few seconds, she realized that it had to be back at the station with the people who thought her story insane, her hysterical. No, the police would be no help. But... those calls in the hallway. If there was a chance that those others who would help her out knew what had happened, that they believed her too? She'd take it. Any superior to someone who challenged demons was a good one to know. Especially against that monster. Talia could still see his face, as hideous and as fresh in her mind as if it were moments ago. Why would he let an angel attack his best soldier and take their meatsuit, and then try to reclaim just me, the body?

She found a flip phone in the pocket of the shorter one. (She really had to find something better to call them.) and opened it. She started for a moment, then turned it on. The screen must have been tinted or something, because her eyes started to look as if she had spray painted her beautiful green eyes a light purple, flecks of the off color throughout her irises. She looked up the last number called, and pressed redial.

"You figure out this god awful mess already?" a gruff voice answered without pause for a hello."Just got there." What a weird way to answer an FBI agent's cell.

"Um...well... I'm pretty sure I'm part of that godawful mess. Your agent.. friends? are not doing very well." The short pause on the line felt like silence on a battlefield, eerie, unnatural.

"Who are you? Why do you have this phone?" A hostility and defensiveness had crept into the man's voice, or maybe it was just worry.

"I am Talia Steel, these two men were investigating my case, helping me out. They believed me, but they were attacked by this extremely powerful... I can only call it demon. I panicked and now everything's worse. When they didn't wake up, I had to call someone. You were the first number on his list."

"They haven't waken up? What did that demon do to them?"

"The demon didn't actually get around to doing anything. I, um, yelled at it to go away and everyone collapsed when the black smoke went."

" You did this. And you just thought that the friends of the people you sentenced to life in a coma would be all fine and dandy with that, did you?"

"..no? I just needed help. I want to help them."

"Well I'd say that would be the least you can do, but with your power, you'd probably kill them instead of help them. The best thing you can do is sit right there and wait. I'll be down there to fix them if I can by tomorrow morning." The call ended and Talia sat, thinking. I'm not useless. I can help these men, figure out what I did.

She stared at the next number on the list with a pecuilar look on her face. Wasn't this an impossible number to have? She stared at it another second longer before pressing call, the number 666 still bouncing around in her brain.


End file.
